Improvement in cutting apparatus for harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

lV. A. VOOD, OF HOOSTGK FALLS, NRSV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN CUTTING APPARATUS FOR HARVESTERS.

Specification 'Forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,066, dated December 2, 1962.

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, TV. vA. VOOD, of Hoosick Falls, in the county ot' Rensselaer and State oi' New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in the Cutting Apparatus ot' Grain and Grass Harvesting ll'l'achines; and I do hereby declare the follow- H ing to be a full, clear, and exactdescription ot' the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apart oi this specilication, in which- Figure l represents in perspective a. portion of a finger and cutter bar provided with guards and cutters after my plan, and Fig. 2 represents a section taken through one of: the guards and through the iinger and cutter bars and cutters.

Sim ilarletters ol, reference,where they oeeu r in the separate iigures, denote l ike parts oi the apparatus in bot-h.

ln very thick, short grass, embedded in which are mice-nests, or where the last years erop has been allowedto remain on the ground, and becomes fallen and tangled at the roots ot the new crop, it is .next to impossible, with any ot' the present known or used cutting apparatus, to werk. without their clicking or clogging up.

rlhe object ol' my invention is to make a cutting apparatus that will work in short, thick, or tangled grass without clogging, and the nature of my invention consists in the peculiar construction ofthe guards ortingers, and their adaptation to the sickle and sicklebar, as well as to the :linger-bar, so as to leave ui'lobstructed space for the otherwise eloggin g matter to freely pass out.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, l` will proceed to-describe the same with reference to the drawii'lgs.

A is a metallic finger-bar made oil' 'iron or steel, rounded up in, front, as shownv at a, into a ruimer form, so as to readily and freely pass over the ground. Near the front edge of this iinger-bar is formed a groove, in which the eutter-bar c lies and works, it being heldin its groove by bearers B, properlyr disposed throughout its length.

r[The sickles or cutters U are united to this bar c in any of the usual well-known ways, said cutters or blades (l having a support on the ledge d, that is left between the groove and the front edge oit' the finger-bar.

The fingers or guards l) are of a harp or bow shape, and are best made oit' steel. They are in contact with the tinger-bar at its front and bottom only, and bolted thereto, as at e. The guards surround the linger-bar, extend on the same plane in rear of the iinger-bar, and have a wide unobstructed space in their bow or bend, as seen at j', to prevent any grass from hanging to or getting entangled with them. The points g of the guards project beyond the itront oli' the iinger-bar and terminate at or near the points of the cutters C, and approach each other near enough to only allow the cutters free play between them, and should any grass hang to the points of the guards the cutters will cut it loose and allow it to drop out. The under part of the guard, whereit projects in front of the tingen bar, is made heavier and broader than its other portions, vso as to make a support lfor the blades, and present a holding-edge to the grass, while the cutters sever it.l The top proj ect-ing portion of the guard is drawn down thinner and smaller, so asV to spring or yield a little to facilitate the throwing out ot the elogging matter, and terminate in a point, g, as does also the under portion.

These guards are readily and cheaply made from a iat or half-round bar of steel, one point or end being upset to thicken it up 'for the cutter-support, and the other end being drawn down to a point, the bending by a die or former being a very simple operation. Besides the unobstructed space behind the finger-bar, that part over the iinger-bar and the cutting apparatus, as at 71y and '13, is also unincumbered by the guards, leaving eompa-rativel y nothing near the working parts for the grass to cling to or wedge into. Extend` ing the guards in rear of the finger-bar allows the stubble, as the machine advances, to brush from the bow part of the guard any eut grass that would otherwise hang there. The points of the guards being on or nearly on a line with the front of the knife-sections, mice-nests or dead grass is cut, and thus prevented from catching, as ih would do, and be draggedalong, space herein represented between itself and Where guards project beyond the front of the the fngenbar,"substantially as and for the k11ifesecbions purpose described.

Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim isrlhe 11a-rp or bow shaped guard surrounding the linger-bar and leaving `'che unobstructedA W. A. WOOD. Witnesses:

LEN. KING, LESTER Fisk. 

